About content exclusions and site category options

Content exclusion settings let you opt out of showing your ads alongside certain categories of websites, videos, and mobile apps that may not be appropriate for your brand or serve your advertising goals.

With a variety of content exclusion options for your Display Network campaigns – such as live streaming video, sensitive social issues, and content for mature audiences – you’ll have more control over where your ads show on the Display Network and YouTube.

Google has policies that define what types of content can be monetized for ads on YouTube and the Display Network. The content settings listed here are meant to give you additional control and help you exclude types of content that, while in compliance with our policies, may not fit your brand or business.

List of content exclusion options

For Video campaigns

Content exclusions options for Video campaigns are found in campaign settings. Here are the available options:

Standard content filter

This filter is the primary tool for excluding content. It filters out the most inappropriate or graphic content from all the content categories, and is recommended for most advertisers. It’s automatically enabled when a campaign is created.

The other content categories listed below exclude additional content on top of what is already excluded by the filter. To understand the difference of what is excluded by the filter and content categories, learn more about the Standard content filter.

Sensitive content

Sensitive social issues: Discrimination and identity relations, scandals and investigations, reproductive rights, firearms and weapons, and more

Content type

Embedded YouTube videos

Live-streaming videos

YouTube videos that appear in online or mobile app games

For Display Network campaigns

In the previous AdWords experience, these settings are called “Site category options” for Display Network campaigns. In the new Google Ads experience, they’re called “Content exclusions” (which is the same as Video campaigns). These options are located in your campaign settings.

Important

Starting in July we are streamlining the content exclusion options (also known as site category options) for Display Network campaigns. Some options are being phased out and will no longer be available starting in early 2018.

In-video (user embedded only): Video that a web publisher found on the Display Network and published on his or her own site. Ads are shown within the video player. (Also called "Embedded YouTube videos.")

Live streaming video: Footage of a live event streamed over the Internet.

About account-level content exclusions

Account-level content exclusions let you set exclusions that apply to your entire account. This means that you can set content exclusions one time in your account settings, and they will apply to all campaigns (both existing and new) in your account.